Srinagar, Feb 27: Demanding payment of the bills pending with various departments and deferment of online bill payment system, the Valley-based contractors on Tuesday padlocked the engineering complex at Raj Bagh here.
The protesting contractors, working with the Public Health Engineering (PHE), Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) and Roads and Buildings (R&B) departments, belonged to the J&K Contractors Coordination Committee (JKCCC) and Hot-mix Plant Owners Association (HPOA) Kashmir.
Besides withholding their bills to the tune of Rs 1,024 crore, the departments have not paid them for even the works done after the 2014 floods amounting to “around Rs 200 crore”, Chairman JKCCC, Ghulam Jeelani Burza, said.
“We met the Chief Minister and Works Minister recently, but to no avail,” Burza added.
Burza said the proposed Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) system for online bill payments lacked the required infrastructure.
“Not a single payment has been done through PAO in the last two weeks, as there is no system in place,” he said.
Burza said the government had singled out the PHE, I&FC and R&B departments where the PAO had been implemented since February 15 only, while the online bill payment system in other departments, as per him, would be implemented “afterMarch 31”.
“The government is using delaying tactics to deny us our money. Their intentions are not good. We will keep the engineering complex padlocked till the government does not clear our dues,” threatened Burza.
“We are not against PAO, but let the government clear our liabilities first. Our bills are not being cleared by the treasuries. Only some amount was released,” a protesting contractor added.
Jalal-ud-Din Wani, a contractor, said they wanted the government to provide them with “a breathing time” before going ahead with the online bill payment system.
“Our liabilities are pending under different heads. Before going ahead with the PAO system, let the government clear our liabilities. Who is going to pay us after the government implements the PAO system?” Wani said.
“We have stalled all the works. The issue will snowball further, as thousands of people are related to it. We want the government to defer the PAO system. The Valley being restive, could not the government have waited for some time before going ahead with it?” he asked.
Rafeeq Hussain, a contractor part of the HPOA, said the government has owes them Rs 535 crore “for macadamisation only” in financial year 2017-18.
“After promising Rs 200 crore in June, they released only Rs 110 crore. Out of this amount specified for Kashmir only, Rs 80 crore was released for Jammu, even as the liability for Jammu was only Rs 250 crore,” claimed Rafeeq.
“I am paying Rs 1.63 lakh as interest to JK Bank monthly. Where will I get the amount from?” Rafeeq asked.
